Story Courtesy Davidson sports information
Davidson 70, East Carolina 61
ATLANTA, GA - Senior Janell Crayton (Atlanta, Ga.), playing in front of family and friends in her hometown, scored nine of her 15 points in the second half, while matching her career-high in rebounds with nine, and the Davidson women's basketball team fought off a late rally by East Carolina to secure a 70-61 win in the first round of the Hyatt Regency Invitational on the campus of Georgia State, Thursday, Dec. 29. Davidson improved to 4-6 with the non-conference win, while East Carolina dropped to 6-4 on the season.
The Wildcats advance to the championship game tomorrow, Dec. 30, when they play host Georgia State Panthers at 4 p.m. The Panthers were 71-44 winners over Mississippi Valley State in the first game of the day.
Davidson opened up play with a 12-6 lead at the 12:51 mark when junior point guard Tia Washington (Charlotte, N.C.) sank both of her free throws. The Wildcats used the free throw line to their advantage in the first half, nailing their first nine and finishing 14-for-18 in the half. Davidson was coming off a 24-for-31 performance, including 15-for-19 in the second half, in a win at UNC Greensboro on Dec. 19.
Junior Brynn Kelly (Spokane, Wash.) later pushed the Wildcat lead out to 13 points, 23-10, when she drained a jumper in the paint and a three-pointer at the top of the arc on back-to-back possessions for Davidson. Kelly dropped in 11 points in the first half and finished with a career-high 17 points on a career best 7-of-8 shooting from the field.
Sophomore Honna Housley (Riceville, Tenn.) gave Davidson a 14-point lead, 35-21, going into halftime when she hit two free throws near the closing seconds of the first half.
East Carolina had all kinds of trouble in the first half finding the bottom of the rim. The Pirates were held to 28.1 percent shooting from the field and hit only two of their 11 free throws for 18.2 percent. East Carolina's leading scorer, Cherie Mills, scored ECU's first six points of the game, but was saddled with foul trouble and played only nine minutes in the first half.
Mills, along with guard Jessica Slack, got East Carolina back in it at the start of the second half by netting all 16 points in a 16-4 run and Davidson's lead was trimmed to two, 45-43, with 11:59 to go in the game. Slack hit back-to-back threes during the run and finished with 14 points for the game, 12 of them in the second half.
Then later, East Carolina Jasmine Young hit a layup with 7:56 to go in the game and knotted things up at 49-all.
Junior Jessica Mitchell (Wilkesboro, N.C.) came right back though on the next possession for the Wildcats and drained a three-ball in the left corner to help Davidson regain the lead for good at 52-49 and 7:37 to go on the clock.
Crayton pushed the lead out to eight points for Davidson, 59-51, on a nice backdoor cut with 4:34 left in the game. The senior forward hit a career best 9-for-12 from the line, including three of Davidson's six in the last 2:10 to help secure the 70-61 win.
Besides Crayton and Kelly, Washington hit for double-digits in points as well, netting 10 on the afternoon. Washington also pushed her string of dishing out at least one or more assists in a game to 17 straight as she finished with two. Davidson as a team had 12 assists and picked up its sixth straight game with 10 or more steals, pocketing 10 in the contest.
East Carolina was led by Mills' double-double as she had 18 points and 10 rebounds. The Pirates were very aggressive on the offensive end in the rebounding department, hauling in 30 of their 54 on offense. ECU could not capitalize though, hitting only 34.2 percent of its shots from the field, while coughing the ball up 19 times. The Pirates were also only 5-for-18 from the free throw line.
Story Courtesy Furman sports information
Furman 86, Maryland-Eastern Shore 81 (OT)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - Furman's Lady Paladin basketball team evened its record to 5-5 on Thursday with an 86-81overtme victory over the Maryland-Eastern Shore Lady Hawks at the Terrapin Classic in College Park, Md.
Senior point guard Tommi Paris made a pair of free throws with 12.7 seconds left in regulation to even the score at 71 and send Furman into its first overtime since a Feb. 26, 2004, loss at Davidson. A quick five points on a field goal and trey by freshman Sarah Baker put Furman ahead early in the extra period, but UMES tied the game with 2:14 to play on a Kristi Veltkamp jumper. A Chrissy Phelps jumper put Furman back on top 78-76, then a pair of free throws by the sophomore guard from nearby Damascus, Md., put the Furman lead at four, 80-76, with 56 seconds on the clock. Paris and Baker sealed the win with a pair of made free throws each over the final 23 seconds.
With about two minutes left in regulation and in an effort to keep the ball out of the lane, the Lady Paladins switched to a 2-3 zone defense. In addition, coach Sam Dixon made driving the lane a focus of the Lady Paladin overtime offense and the plan paid off with eight free shots.
"We switched to zone and stopped them from penetrating so much," said Dixon after the win. "They scored four of their first five second half buckets in the lane and we wanted to keep the ball out of the paint." For the game, UMES outscored Furman 32-22 in the paint.
Furman took solid control of the game in the first period and held a 35-23 lead over the Lady Hawks at the halftime break, thanks in part to a buzzer beating three pointer by freshman Sarah Baker. UMES bounced back after the break pushing the ball to Toni Kennedy and Jamilah Griffith, who combined for 58 points in the second half and overtime. Griffith ended the ngiht with a team-high 22 points, while Kennedy added 17 and Veltkamp contributed 12, with 13 rebounds.
The Lady Paladins were paced by Paris' 20 points while Baker added 19. Phelps contributed 15 with a team-best 11 rebounds for the first double-double of her career since Feb. 12, 2005, when she scored 12 and claimed 11 boards in a five-point win over College of Charleston.
After shooting a shaky 54.5% (6-for-11) from the line in the first period, the Lady Paladins connected on thier last 11 attempts and made 73.3% (22-for-30) for the game.
Story Courtesy Appalachian State sports information
IPFW 74, Appalachian State 64
AMES, IO ? Kiki Conyers (Tallahassee, Fla.) recorded her 1,000th career point, but it wasn’t enough as the Appalachian State University women’s basketball team fell to IPFW, 74-64, Thursday in its first game of the Cyclone Classic hosted by Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum. The Mountaineers will move on to play either Iowa State or Nicholls State Friday at 6:30 p.m. EST.
With the loss the Mountaineers drop to 5-5 this season, while IPFW improves to 2-8. Appalachian, which ranks 12th in the NCAA with 12.75 steals per game, kept its average up Thursday with 15 steals. The Mountaineers also committed fewer turnovers than their opponent with 18 compared to 24.
Conyers finished the night with 11 points, five assists and five steals. She now has 1,001 career points at Appalachian State, becoming the 17th Mountaineer to reach 1,000-point milestone. The 5-5 guard is just six points shy of moving into 16th in the record books in scoring.
Junior Danielle Edwards (Winston-Salem, N.C.) tied a career-high with 17 points for the Mountaineers. The 6-0 forward was just one rebound shy of her third double-double of the season with a game-high nine boards. Senior Jocelyn Wyatt (Lawrenceville, Ga.) added 12 points on 2-of-5 from beyond the three-point arc, while sophomore Whitney Tossie (Oviedo, Fla.) chipped in 11 points.
Johnna Lewis-Carlisle led IPFW with 21 points, 14 coming in the second half. She added three assists and two of her team’s six steals. A combined four players scored in double-digits for the Mastodons, as Ashley Johnson and Hilary O’Connell added 14 and Nanyamka Moore chipped in 10.
Story Courtesy Georgia Southern sports information
South Alabama 75, Georgia Southern 59
MOBILE, AL - An 11-0 South Alabama run midway through the second half lifted the Lady Jaguars to a 75-59 win over Georgia Southern Thursday evening at the Coca-Cola Classic at Mitchell Center.
Sophomore Tiffany Brown (Waxhaw, N.C.) scored a game-high 21 points for GSU (2-7), including 13 of the team’s 30 points in the second half. Senior Lee DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) added 10 off the bench.
Junior Cortney Brown and senior JoAnna Williams tallied 20 and 18 points, respectively, for South Alabama (5-5). Fifteen of Cortney’s career-high point total came in the first half and Williams shot 4-for-5 from 3-point range.
“We didn’t play with any intensity tonight,” said GSU head coach Rusty Cram. “We looked like our legs were gone. They wanted it, they played with a passion and we just went through the motions.”
USA stretched a 42-29 halftime lead to 15 points seven minutes in to the second half on a layup by junior Valencia Boswell, but Tiffany Brown scored on three straight possessions to cut the lead to nine, 53-44.
“Tiffany stepped up and made some incredible plays and scored in bunches. She gave us a chance to come back and stay in the game.”
After that the Lady Eagles went nearly four minutes without scoring as an 11-0 run by South Alabama gave them a 20-point lead. Boswell started the run with a free throw and also added a three-point play.
Cortney Brown capped off the run with a three-point play of her own to give the Lady Jaguars their largest lead with eight minutes remaining.
GSU answered with a 9-2 rally, thanks to Brown and DuBose combining for eight of the points, but was unable to get any closer than 13 the rest of the way.
The Georgia Southern offense struggled out of the gate, hitting just one field in the first nine and a half minutes while South Alabama jumped out to a 14-4 lead.
GSU eventually found its shooting touch and rallied to come within six, 20-14, and held South Alabama without a point for a three-minute stretch. But after Tiffany Brown hit a layup to bring the Lady Eagles to their closest deficit, Williams hit the third of her three 3-pointers to kick the lead back up to nine.
Sophomore Concella Henry (Manning, S.C.), who established a new season-high point total in the first half alone, cut the deficit down to nine, 27-18, with 6:33 left, but junior Raena Ellis jump-started a 10-2 run to put the Lady Jags up by 17, and did not lead by fewer than 11 points the rest of the half.
USA had little trouble hitting its shots, shooting 56 percent through the first 17 minutes including 6-10 from three-point land.
“We didn’t score right out of the chute and it was 8-0 just like that. When you give up 60 percent at the 3-point line, you’re gonna get beat.”
Brown led all scorers with 15 points at the break while Williams tallied nine, all off 3-pointers, and Whitney Woodard had eight.
Brown totaled eight to lead the Lady Eagles and Henry contributed seven.
“Concella had her best production night of the season. She came off the bench and was a bright spot inside.”
The opening half on the boards belonged to Georgia Southern, outrebounding the Lady Jaguars 27-16, limiting USA to just one offensive rebound.
Story Courtesy Western Carolina sports information
South Carolina 95, Western Carolina 53
Columbia, SC - Western Carolina drained back-to-back jumpers, including one from 3-point range, to race out to a 5-0 advantage in the opening moments over the Gamecocks Thursday night in the Colonial Center. However, South Carolina embarked on a 19-2 run to erase the five-point deficit and build a lead it would never relinquish, knocking off the Lady Catamounts, 95-53.
Western (0-9) was led by sophomore Chevon Keith and freshman Lauren Powell, each scoring 10 points in the loss. Keith added four rebounds, an assist and a steal in the loss while Powell, who notched her team-high seventh double-digit scoring outing of the season, scored nine of her 10 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Freshman Amelia Miller, playing in front of friends and family from her nearby hometown of Winnsboro, S.C., scored seven in the loss and pulled down a career-best four rebounds. Classmates Jessika Johnson and Ashley Pellom each scored six, with Johnson adding four rebounds and Pellom dishing out four assists.
Things started well for the Lady Catamounts, who were playing their final non-conference game of the season. After a missed jumper by Powell, freshman April Parker gave WCU a second chance with an offensive board, dishing to Pellom who found Johnson on the right side of the lane where she tallied the game's first points. After a USC turnover, Pellom again found a teammate, dishing the ball to Powell who dialed long distance for the 3-point basket and the five-point lead.
However, over the next six minutes, South Carolina mounted a 19-2 run to take a 12-point, 19-7 lead. During the streak, Western's lone points came from a Johnson jumper, which cut the deficit back to two at 9-7 at the time. The Lady Catamounts would trail by 24 on three occasions in the opening half, including intermission, 49-25.
A 9-to-4 Western Carolina spurt out of the locker room, including a pair of Powell treys, cut the Gamecock lead down to 19, 53-34. But it would be the last time WCU would be able to cut the `Cock lead under 20 points as USC embarked on an 18-6 run to build its advantage to 31 midway through the half.
Trailing by 34, Parker drained Western's final field goal with 4:54 remaining in the game as the Lady Cats only managed three made free throws down the stretch as a part of a 13-3 USC run to finish with the final tally, 95-53.
Overall, the taller South Carolina squad swatted 13 shots and out rebounded Western 52-to-38, including a 21-to-17 edge on the offensive glass. The Gamecocks, who entered the game ranked third in the nation in field goal defense, held WCU to 28.8 percent from the floor. Conversely, USC shot 53-percent from the field for the game, including 60-percent in the opening half.